Ghetto Seto
by Hinotama Soul
Summary: Whatever could have happened to have sent Seto Kaiba to instant poverty? A hilarious tale about Kaiba and a life without luxury.
1. The Big Five

The Big Five stood outside of the Kaiba Corporation building and watched as the structure slowly melted away into ash. Five firetrucks, an ambulance, and three police cars were parked haphazardly in front, and the firemen were giving everything they had to put the blaze out.  
  
Two paramedics emerged from the burning building, carrying a stretcher. On it layed Seto Kaiba, the man behind all of Kaiba Corp.'s technology.  
  
"Seto!" a high-pitched voice called from afar. Seto's little brother, Mokuba, came out of nowhere, it seemed, and grabbed his brother's arm. "Is he going to be okay?!" he frantically asked the paramedics.  
  
While one of them was hooking Seto up to an oxygen mask, the other said, "He should be fine. He was trapped in a terminal, but we got him out fine."  
  
Seto Kaiba suddenly sprang up, took off his oxygen mask, and said, "I'll be fine!" He tried to step onto the ground, but he felt faint and once again laid on the stretcher.  
  
A policewoman walked up to Mokuba. "Some of the firemen that came early on were able to bring us some survaillence tapes fro the inside before they burned up," she said. "From what we have seen so far, it's clear that those executives over there are responsible for the fire." She inconspicuously pointed at the Big Five. "They think that they have gotten away with it, since they are still here."  
  
Mokuba, enraged, stooped his knees a little so he could dash towards the Big Five and give them the best beating that he could muster. However, two policemen held him back.  
  
"If you get at them, they'll know that we're onto them, and then they'll run away," the policemen said.  
  
"But -" Mokuba said. "They just burned up everything that Seto and I have been working for for years!" He began to wail. "Why???!"  
  
"It must have something to do with insurance claims, according to some of the inside sources we've had."  
  
"Those bullies have ALWAYS been after my brother!" Mokuba yelled, watching the paramedics roll Seto's stretcher into the ambulance. Mokuba quickly dashed off with him and held on tight as the vehicle zipped through the streets.  
  
* * *  
  
While Yugi was trying to do his homework, he noticed a strange smell wafting through his bedroom window. Curious, he went downstairs to the Game Shop. He saw his grandfather about to clean the floor, as it was just a few minutes after the Shop had closed for the day.  
  
"Hey, Grampa," said Yugi.  
  
"Well, what do you know, if it isn't my little Yugi," Grampa said. "Just in time to watch me mop the floor here."  
  
Yugi walked up and took the mop from his grandfather. "Here, I'll take care of this."  
  
Grampa took it back. "Aren't you supposed to be doing your homework right now?"  
  
It was then that Yugi remembered the reason he had come down there in the first place.  
  
"There's a weird smell coming from somewhere outside," Yugi said.  
  
Grampa, whose allergies had been flaring that day, could not smell a thing. He gave up and gave the mop to Yugi.  
  
When Yugi was finished with the floor, he went back upstairs to the living room, where he found Grampa watching the news.  
  
"Firefighters predict that the Kaiba Corporation blaze will be fully contained within the next hour," Yugi heard the anchorman say.  
  
His pupils darted. "What?! Kaiba Corp.'s on fire??!:  
  
"I wonder how that could have happened," Grampa said.  
  
The news took a break, and when the commercials began to play, Grampa dug around his seat for a remote control. He couldn't find it, but his eyes did catch the mail, lying on the left arm rest of the chair. He handed a letter to Yugi.  
  
"Here, this came in the mail for you," Grampa said.  
  
Yugi's eyes widened. "It's from Industrial Illusions." A bead of sweat rolled down his face. "I'm almost afraid to open it. I mean - remember what happened the LAST time I opened mail from Industrial Illusions?"  
  
Grampa nodded. Just to be safe, Yugi didn't open the envelope. Instead, he put it back on the arm rest.  
  
The news had come back on. It was reported the Kaiba Coporation building was indeed on fire, and that Seto Kaiba had to be hospitalized.  
  
Yugi was concerned, but it was too early for him to know what he could do to help. He kept watching as the reports came in, while his homework was being neglected on his desk.  
  
* * *  
  
"What's wrong with my big brother?" Mokuba asked a nurse when they had settled in a hospital.  
  
"Get out of my way, kid!" she shouted as she darted towards the ward that Kaiba was in.  
  
"BIG BROTHER!!" Mokuba shouted to the ceiling, closing his eyes and clenching his fists.  
  
(To be continued.) 


	2. Aftermath

The blaze finally tired, and the firemen left the scene. All that was left of the once grand Kaiba Corporation was rubble. Kaiba Land, a place where regular people could use virtual fields to duel, was shut down. It was a dependent place and could not run without Kaiba Corp.  
  
* * *  
  
Kaiba weakly opened his eyes and saw his brother, Mokuba, in his blurry eyesight. "M-Mokuba," he said.  
  
"Seto!" Mokuba hugged his brother.  
  
"Let's go home, Mokuba," Kaiba said as he struggled to sit up in his bed.  
  
"Whatever you say, Seto," Mokuba said. He stepped outside and told a passing doctor that he thought it was time for them to go home. The doctor went into the room to check up on Kaiba.  
  
After several minutes of checks, the doctor turned to Mokuba. "He appears to be fine. His lungs are functioning normally, and he's seemed to gain most of his strength back. However, the smoke inhilation had quite an impact on his neural cells."  
  
"Huh?" Mokuba said.  
  
"Neural - h-his brain cells," the doctor explained. "Some of them may have damaged. It's common with smoke inhilation."  
  
Mokuba shook his head. "My big brother has so many brain cells that a few missing ones won't make a difference. So can we go home now?"  
  
The doctor looked at Kaiba's clipboard for a moment and then agreed. He helped Kaiba into a wheelchair (so he had no chance of falling and suing the hospital) and went with him and Mokuba to the main desk. One of the clerks handed Mokuba the bill.  
  
His eyes widened. "Wow! It's not cheap to go to the hospital!" He put it in his pocket.  
  
The doctor chuckled. "Well, Seto Kaiba of all people shouldn't have a problem with that," he said.  
  
"Yeah, you're right," said Mokuba, pushing his brother out of the hospital. He took his older brother's cell phone from his pocket and called for a limo. "What?!" he yelled, when the man on the other line said that the service was no longer available to Seto Kaiba. "What do you MEAN we are unable to provide payment? Fine! I'll call for a chopper, then!" But that wasn't available to them, either. He looked at Kaiba strangely. "Why can't we get some service here?" he asked his brother.  
  
* * *  
  
"What's going to happen to Kaiba now?" Yugi wondered that night as he finished his homework and got ready for bed. "That building was the basis of everything he's owned." He had watched the news long enough to learn that Kaiba's thousands of employees had to be laid off, and each would still need to be paid for the two weeks they worked prior to the fire. Economists that were interviewed said that unless Kaiba was able to pull off something big, he would go into bankruptcy.  
  
"But Kaiba always thinks of a way out," Yugi said. "Even in my duel with him at Duelist Kingdom." He shuddered at the memory.  
  
And with that, Yugi went to bed.  
  
* * *  
  
It was quite late when Mokuba and Kaiba arrived at the Kaiba mansion. They had had to ride in a stinky, regular old cab. Kaiba, now out of the wheelchair, didn't seem to mind, though, but Mokuba did.  
  
There was a pair of suited men at the front door with clipboards. Mokuba recognized them as Kaiba's financial advisers. They shook their heads sadly.  
  
"What?!" Mokuba cried. "We need a place to sleep!"  
  
"I'm sorry, but there are thousands of workers who need their paychecks, including us," one of the advisers said. This mansion is one of Kaiba's few reminaing assets. And tomorrow morning, it'll be Kaiba Land next." He and the other advisers turned to leave.  
  
"But -" Mokuba said. "Say something, Seto!"  
  
Kaiba spoke for the first time in a long while. "Have you got a blanket for us?"  
  
The advisers laughed. In pity, one of them went to the limo that they had come in and produced two blankets and a small bag of packaged foor for Kaiba and Mokuba. "We'll see you in the morning," they said. They got into the vehicle and drove away.  
  
Mokuba and Kaiba slept on the mansion lawn that night, snuggling. Luckily, it wasn't a very cold night. Although he was comfortable, wrapped around a part of his brother's trechcoat, Mokuba felt insecure about sleeping outdoors. Kaiba didn't seem to mind at all.  
  
Morning came, and the advisers came back. Everything was taken away, much to Mokuba's dismay. He cried, kicked, and whined, but Kaiba didn't have much to say on the matter. He kept telling his little brother not to worry - that he would soon find a job and fix things. That made Mokuba feel better. Their job hunt began early that afternoon.  
  
* * *  
  
The topic of the Kaiba Corporation fire was the main thing at school. During lunch, Yugi, Téa, Tristan, Bakura, and Joey were sitting around Yugi's desk, wondering what Kaiba was going to do. They all agreed that Kaiba would get back up and go back to his "greedy old self" in no time.  
  
Walking alone on his way home from school that day, Yugi looked through his backpack and noticed that his mother had put the letter from Industrial Illusions in there. "That letter again!" he said, this time preparing to open it. "As long as I am alone, I don't risk whatever is inside hurting anyone." He carefully tore the envelope open.  
  
(To be continued.) 


End file.
